1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article of manufacture which is in the general nature of a briefcase or portfolio but which is specifically suited for carrying and/or storing drafting implements and materials. Moreover, it is particularly useful in that it also provides, as needed, a suitably inclined drafting surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known, from U.S. Pat. No. 1,720,682, to provide a desk pad which affords a writing or drawing surface and contains compartments "proportioned to take articles commonly used about a desk."
The idea of providing an "attache-type case" which has an exterior surface upon which writing or drawing is done is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,362.
Perhaps the most pertinent reference is Clark U.S. Pat. No. 1,799,973, "Drafting Case and Board." It discloses a drafting case which is intended to serve some of the same purposes as the present invention. The structure of Clark provides a case which contains a drawing board and a T square. It can be converted from a carrying or storage position to a working position, and vice versa. It differs, however, in several ways from the device of the present invention, as will be explained more fully hereinbelow.
Both the battery-operated pencil-sharpener means which is preferably provided in accordance with the invention and the locking hinge means have hitherto been known per se, but there has not been in the prior art any suggestion that these features be incorporated in an article of the general kind described by Clark.